Guyana needs a new ‘social contract’

Jan 05, 2014 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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The results of the general and regional elections of 28th November 2011 opened opportunities for real political, social and economic change. A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change together polled over 175,000 votes and the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC), over 166,000 votes. These results gave the combined opposition a majority of one seat in the National Assembly.
The PPPC, rather than pursue a consensual policy of “inclusionary democracy” of cooperation with the opposition as prescribed in the Constitution, adopted a confrontational approach. That approach has failed. President Donald Ramotar lamented, in his ‘New Year Address to the Nation, “I acknowledge that political obstacles stand in the way of our transformative agenda.  I hope that the New Year we can get some cooperation from our colleagues on the other side of the House to move our country forward.”
The fact is that Guyana is in a state of crisis. The political crisis has been precipitated by the PPPC’s reluctance to acknowledge its minority status in the National Assembly and to seek a political settlement with the Opposition. The President’s refusal to assent to certain bills passed by the Assembly has stuck like a bone in the throat of the Opposition. This has been a major source of political contention.
The economic crisis has lowered workers’ standard of living. Protests, strikes and stoppages by two of the country’s largest trade unions – the Guyana Public Service Union and the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union – have demonstrated how much labour relations between the state and its workers have degenerated. The ranks of unemployed young people are increasing.
The World Bank, in its 2014 World Development Report, rated Guyana as the second poorest country in CARICOM. The Report showed that, with a Gross National Income (GNI) of US$3,410 per capita, Guyana compared unfavourably with The Bahamas at US$21,280 per capita, Suriname at US$8,480 per capita and, indeed, with all other CARICOM states except Haiti.
The security crisis has disproportionately hurt the poor. Guyanese are pained by the surge in serious crimes last year, 2013. There were 1,038 reports of robbery under arms at the end of November 2013, representing a seven per cent increase over the same period in 2012. There was an increase in the number of armed robberies involving the use of firearms by 16 per cent. Other everyday crimes – including banditry in the hinterland, murder, piracy, fatalities on the roads and interpersonal violence – proliferated.
The challenge of determining the character and content of the ‘social contract’ lies at the core of these crises. The PPPC administration must change its political posture if it is to recover public trust in the state’s ability to positively influence economic change and restore the sustainability of social policies. Such an evolution, inevitably, must be based on a recognition of the authority and autonomy of the National Assembly. There must be change in the relations between the executive and legislative branches of government and in the organisation and role of the state.
The President and the PPPC should understand that the way out of the crisis is to promote national unity, ensure human safety and foster economic development. The PPPC has demonstrated that, on its own, it is incapable of solving the country’s current crises. It must create a cooperative relationship if it is to get out of these crises. It must, to achieve this, embark on a new ‘social contract.’
A new ‘social contract’ will furnish the basis for major sections of society – including the government; political opposition; trade unions; private sector and civil society – to come together to seek agreement on a broad national programme to move the country forward.
A ‘social contract’ could be the main means of combining the talents of a wider constituency and of creating the conditions for social cooperation and economic progress. The three-fold purpose of such a contract would be to reach a broad consensus on the goals of national development, to establish a sustainable institutional architecture and to create effective policy instruments for the achievement of the contract’s objectives.
The PPPC administration must lead the way. It must honour its obligations to undertake and continue tripartite consultations with workers’ and employers’ organisations in order to promote increased production and productivity in accordance with The Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas Establishing the Caribbean Community.
The PPPC administration must establish, in accordance with CARICOM’s Charter of Civil Society for the Caribbean Community, “… a framework for genuine consultation among the social partners in order to reach common understandings on and support for the objectives, contents and implementation of national economic and social programmes and their respective roles and responsibilities in good governance.”
The PPPC administration must strengthen the mechanisms for tripartite consultation in accordance with ILO Convention No. 150 on Labour administration, 1978 that provides for an effective system of Labour Administration. These functions and responsibilities can be coordinated properly with the participation of workers and employers and their organisations.
The PPPC administration must seriously re-examine the prospects for the future relationship between citizens and the state. A new ‘social contract’ must be agreed upon in order to address Guyana’s pressing political, economic and social problems and to foster greater unity, security and progress.

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